A Visitation and A Lunch Date
by Demon'sLover1996
Summary: Zero visits his brother's grave but also meets a nysterious girl and realizes she's always been under his nose. Its really good read it its better than this.
1. Chapter 1

Zero looked around his surroundings and shook his head. The flowers in his hand bobbed in the wind, up and down, as if nodding yes. He needed this, or he could never accept what had happened so long ago.

A young woman walked past Zero at the cemetery gates. Her hair sparkled in the dim light, its color like a dark cherry wood color; her eyes were swirled gray and blue, like a sky about to storm. She was the same size as Yuki, just taller. She was dressed slightly dressy. She wore a black ruffled skirt with gray tights and a white dress shirt. Her coat covered most of her outfit, though.

"Hello, you know, mourning isn't the hard part, its accepting that you can't change it." The young woman had a voice like wind chimes, clear and beautiful.

Zero looked at her hands. She held a large bouquet of roses and lilies, roses seemed odd. She smiled and kept walking on towards one of the grave markers. She hadn't come just to replace flowers on a grave and Zero could tell that.

Zero walked on to his twin's grave. Ichiru had died one year ago, after Zero devoured what remained of him.

_After all, even if you became a vampire, there must be a part of you that is still human, right? _

The word rang inside Zero's head. Humanity had nothing to do with it, he found it hard to accept that everything eh loved was dying, leaving or something of the sort. He was sick of it and that girl he had seen wasn't helping. If anything, she had seen right through him. He didn't like the way it felt.

He found Ichiru's grave and shuddered. He saw the girl a few yards away, but shook his head and ignored her. Zero set the flowers down and lay down on the long grave stone. He looked quite pathetic if anything.

"Ichiru…I wonder if there is any human part left in me." Zero whispered, conflicted. "I can't remember."

_I can't remember how it feels to be human._

"Hey, why are you talking to the grave?" A voice asked Zero.

"What?" Zero asked.

"I'm not even there, Zero, silly." Ichiru laughed and smiled.

"Ichiru…"

"Where I really reside is inside you. Did you finally listen to me; have you accepted what happened one year in the past? You know. Zero, what are humans anyway?" Ichiru asked Zero as Zero held tight to him.

The young woman looked at the grave and knelt down, despite her nice attire she laid down on the grown next to the grave. She looked at the sky and wondered whether it should have been her dying from cancer.

"Hey, you know, Aika, you were my best friend and you always understood me. You aren't even buried here; it's just a place in a graveyard. The overwhelming meaning of life. Okay, so you knew what it meant before you died, but can you enlighten me? I don't really understand. I can only understand what you had explained." The young woman said with tears in her eyes.

_Mourning_ _isn't the hard part, its accepting that you can't change it._

"I'm glad you remember I'm not underground. I would probably have to come haunt you. You are right though; mourning isn't hard, except for you. You used my words of wisdom on that guy at the gates. He's Zero, the guy from the Hunter's Association. You've seen him, he's buried in paperwork. You told me he gives the association a bad name. Well, I can't offer you more advice today; it's kind of hard to when you haven't asked more specific questions. If you asked what one main part of life was, like marriage for example, I could tell you, but you're being too broad. Narrow it down for me. If you have it narrowed down come visit me tomorrow. I'm always with you, Ayame." With that, Aika left Ayame and she sighed, knowing her friend was being difficult.

Ayame stood up and looked at the sky; it was turning stormy, like her eyes. She looked over to Zero and sighed.

"There are humans, humans that desire to drink the blood of purebloods, much like vampires. That's a human race, right? You have your head in a muddle again, come on and think objectively. No matter what now, you can't get one thing wrong. It's what I told you that day one year ago."

_Live and do what I cannot._

Zero bolted upright and looked at Ayame standing in front of him. She smiled and knelt down next to him. She took his hand and looked him in the eye.

"He's resting in peace now. You have finally accepted what happened. I saw you talking to Ichiru, although it only looked like you. Yeah, I do that with Aika. She's my friend; she died of cancer eight years ago. We trained together as vampire hunters, I'm Ayame, and I've seen you around work. You're Zero and one of the strongest hunters. Yagari trained you well." Ayame stood and offered her hand to help Zero up.

"What did you mean when you said to me at the gates?" Zero asked.

"A little piece of advice from Aika. She always knew what to say to me. Hey, how about we go out to lunch and I tell you all about Aika?"


	2. A Potluck With Friends

Writer: Here we go with introductions and disclaimers, and my lovely OC, Ayame, is here to do it!

Ayame Sohma: Yes, my time to shine! Finally, a chance in the spotlight!

Writer: Excuse me, I said my OC! Get back in my Fruits Basket fanfic, NOW!

Ayame Sohma: But, you haven't touched that piece in a long time. We're lonely.

Writer: I have a lot to do, okay? If you're bored go annoy Yuki or something. Go to lunch with Tohru. You'll annoy Yuki by doing that and you get to bond with Tohru, now go. (Pushes Ayame back into Fruits Basket fanfic)

Ayame: Sorry I'm late; I got sidetracked by some Level E. I hope there was no trouble here.

Writer: No, just an escaped character, but he's fine now.

Ayame: Okay, so this crazy and harebrained author doesn't own anything except me and her ideas. Enjoy the chapter.

Ayame Sohma off to the side: Those were supposed to be my lines.

Ayame and Writer: SHUT UP!

"Thanks for helping out, Zero. I'm sorry about lunch yesterday. I didn't mean to spill hot soup on you." Ayame sighed as Zero worked on a stir fry for seven.

"Why are you even having a pot luck? Why did you invite me? I hate parties." He hissed adding another few vegetables to his stir fry.

"Because, you need to get out. Also, you didn't have to come." Ayame stated and pulled my cake out of the oven.

"Ew, sweets." He groaned and took his stir fry off the stove.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna force feed it to you." Ayame informed and grabbed a can of icing.

"Who did you invite anyway?" Zero questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Kasumi, Mayumi, Daisuke, Shun and Tsubasa." Ayame said as she pointed to a picture on her dining room wall.

"Blech!" Zero commented before moving his stir fry to a serving plate.

"Oh my lord! What is it now?!" Ayame groaned and turned to Zero.

"They're immature and act like they could take on the most ferocious Level E, yet I've seen Kasumi faint at the sight of a spider." Zero gave a chuckle, remembering how Kasumi had actually fainted.

"Really? That's your problem with them?" Ayame asked checking on several bottles of alcohol she had in the fridge.

"Among other things." Zero mentioned handing Ayame a can of whipped cream.

"Thanks, that's just what my cake needed. Now we just have to move everything to the table." Ayame smiled and grabbed the plate of stir fry and a bottle of saké.

Zero carried almost everything and Ayame was filling up wine glasses when the doorbell rang. She quickly answered it to see the group of five vampire hunters standing there each with a food item.

Everyone quickly filed in and sat their dishes down and grabbed a seat.

"So, what did everyone bring?" Zero asked smelling something like ramen.

"I brought homemade chicken flavored ramen!" Kasumi smiled and took the lid off a glass pot she had.

"I made fortune cookies from my grandma's recipe and I handwrote each fortune!" Mayumi laughed and opened a takeout box that had sugar coated fortune cookies in it.

"I and Daisuke actually worked together on fried pumpkin dumplings." Shun laughed as Daisuke blushed.

"Aww, look at Daisuke. He's blushing." Kasumi laughed and gently patted him on the head.

Daisuke was a hefty build with dark auburn hair. He was really manly to put it simply, but he also had talents no one knew. The last thing he wanted people knowing was that he could cook.

Everyone had a wonderful dinner and finally it came time for more wine and shots of saké. Also, some dessert.

"Ayame, let's play Truth or Dare." Mayumi laughed and pulled everyone into the living room.

"Oh, I don't know." Ayame stuttered.

"You can count me out." Zero muttered.

"Come on, Zero. I have to play, you have to as well." Ayame stated and gave Zero a critical look.

"Fine. Stubborn hunter." He said under his breath while plopping on the sofa.

No one really remembers what went on after that. The result though, when Ayame woke up, was Zero lying in bed next to her half dressed and that there were bite marks over her body and she was sore in her groin and lady areas.

"Oh no, please don't tell me I did…" Ayame whispered and quickly jumped out of bed.

Something told her she did though.


	3. Wellshit!

Chapter 3: I Did, Didn't I?

Zero rolled over onto Ayame's side of the bed and slowly opened his eyes, seeing Ayame.

Ayame looked down and realized what Zero was staring at. She was totally disrobed. She quickly pulled a sheet off the bed and wrapped it around herself. Zero let out a laugh and Ayame walked up to him and slapped him, pretty hard actually.

"It's not funny! Do you realize what happened?" Ayame yelled and threw Zero's clothes at him.

"I was laughing at you, not what happened." Zero answered and stood up.

"Do you even know what happened?" Ayame asked in a frantic and panicked voice.

"Yes. Do you know what happened?" Zero asked while he raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Not really, I just woke up next to you in my bed and I was naked and you're clothes were on the floor. Zero, what did happen?" Ayame sputtered trying to keep calm.

"Well, you were kind of plastered and your friends got me slightly plastered too. They were trying to decide whether they should play Seven Minutes in Heaven or another round of Truth or Dare. They decided both. They just kind of mixed them together. So, when it was my turn to face punishment I chose dare. Everyone decided to dare me to take you in your bedroom and 'rock your world'. I was kind of plastered and so were you. We decided, why not, just fake it. Well, we went farther than faking it." He explained while looking at Ayame.

"No, no, no. Oh God, no. Zero do you understand why this is such a big issue?" Ayame yelled at him and threw his jeans at him.

"It's not that big a deal. No one has to find out, no one knows." He tried to calm Ayame down.

"That's the thing, people do know! Daisuke, Tsubasa, Kasumi, Mayumi and Shun all know! If they blab, I'll be kicked out of the Hunters Association! What do we do?" Ayame spazzed, almost to the point of tears.

"Call them and tell them not to say anything, then we'll think of something. Okay?" He suggested as Ayame shook.

"Okay, okay. I'll go call them." Ayame choked, tears falling.

"Oh man, I hope I didn't screw her over, with all she's worked for." Zero muttered and held his head, hangover finally kicking in.


	4. Calling Upon the Dead

Chapter 4: Calling Upon the Dead

Zero headed to Ichiru's grave while Ayame walked over to Aika's grave with a blank expression. She kneeled down and placed the fresh flowers on her friend's grave.

"Hi, Aika. I guess you know what happened. I sure screwed up big time. Do you know what I can do? Please tell me, I'm so confused. I have no one right now and if I'm kicked out of the Hunter's Association I'll have no place to go. What am I gonna do?" Ayame hung her head and felt tears well up for the second time today.

"What a tortured soul. Congrats on losing the V-Card by the way. It's okay, no one will find out and if they do, my parents will take you in. They think of you as if you were their own daughter. Don't worry. Personally, I'm the one who's gonna lose her ghost shit. I died a virgin, but look at you, twenty and no V-Card. You lucky bitch." Aika sighed sadly.

"Not the time." Ayame hissed.

"Honestly, everything will be fine. You have my word on that. Personally, I think you and Zero make a cute couple." Aika giggled and looked Ayame straight in the eyes.

Don't let the fear of love keep you from living and don't let the fear of life keep you from loving

Zero's POV

"Ichiru, I don't know what to do. She's infuriating, but somehow I enjoyed last night. The touch of her skin, the caress of her lips, the smell of her hair. I think I'm falling in love. I think I'm falling for someone I can't have." Zero whispered as he placed the flowers on Ichiru's grave.

"Zero, silly. Why can't you have her? She's perfectly fine for you. She's gorgeous, kind, sweet. She's everything inside of you that you don't see or choose not to be. I can't tell. I think you should go for it." Ichiru smiled.

"But we'll be kicked out of the Hunter's Association if anyone finds out. If she lost her only place to go because of me, I'd never forgive myself." Zero said gently touching the tattoo on his neck.

"Don't dwell on it, everything's gonna be fine. You have my word on that. You can also move in with Headmaster Cross. Personally, I think you and her make a cute couple." Ichiru laughed quietly while looking Zero in the eyes.

Don't let the fear of life keep you from loving and don't let the fear of love keep you from living


	5. Where Do We Go From Here?

Chapter 5: Where Do We Go from Here?

Ayame and Zero were walking side by side in silence, not even making eye contact. She sighed and stepped in front of Zero to stop.

"So, any helpful advice?" She asked looking up at Zero.

"What?" Zero asked looking away.

"Did your brother give you any helpful advice?" Ayame asked moving to be in Zero's field of vision.

"Well, what about Aika? Did she offer any help?" Zero asked.

"That wasn't what I asked you." Ayame stated and Zero sighed and moved around her to continue walking.

"That's fine! Okay, ignore your problems and they'll go away, it's what you do best!" Ayame yelled as Zero briskly walked away.

After finishing her sentence Zero turned on his heel and made his way back to Ayame. He cornered her against the cemetery gate and got right in her face. He was inches away and she could smell blood on his breath.

"Don't you dare ever tell me that I run away from my problems. I've been living with my 'problem' for the past damned eight years!" Zero spat at her.

"Then stop acting like everything is alright. I can smell the blood on your breath and you're acting like you can't see the bite marks you left on me. Zero, stop acting like no one knows and like you're in this alone. You aren't facing this alone. Yeah, some of the people you loved most are gone, but I'm here. That should mean something." Ayame explained as she tried to ignore Zero's strong and painful grip on her arms.

"Yes, I am in this alone. No one understands." He said and began walking away.

Ayame slid down the fence of the cemetery and watched him walk away into the dim afternoon mist.


	6. Tending the Wounds

Chapter 6: Tending the Wounds

Ayame opened her door and tossed her coat and mittens on the radiator. She sighed and went to the medicine cabinet in her bathroom. She grabbed gauze, ace bandages, wrapping bandages, pain pills and a sleeping pill.

She put gauze on the bitemarks Zero left and wrapped them so she wouldn't pick at the scabs. She then wrapped her wrist and knee in an ace bandage. Zero had been rough last night and the pain was finally setting in. She popped two pain pills and grabbed a blanket to wrap herself in.

She picked up the phone, unsure of what to say but dialed the number she knew but had never used.

Unless you're Cross or Yagari, you shouldn't be calling me. Just tell me what you want and hang up.

"Hi Zero, it's me. I guess that you're not picking up because you don't like people or you can tell it's me. I'm sorry about what I said. I know no one can understand what you're going through, even if they try with all their being. I just wanted to say I'm sorry and if you ever need to talk or a shoulder to cry on, I'm here. See you at work tomorrow." Ayame finished and hung up.

She popped another pain pill and two sleeping pills. After that she slept for the rest of the day and most of the night until around 3 o'clock.

She woke up to hear a loud knocking at her door.


	7. Unwanted and Unwelcome Guests

Chapter 7: An Unexpected and Unwanted Visit

She grabbed her katana and unsheathed it. She could sense the stranger was a vampire and the presence was slightly like Zero's. She sighed finally realizing who it was banging at her door.

"Hibiki, get out of here!" Ayame hissed cracking the door slightly to glare at him with one eye.

"I can smell the blood on your breath. Don't tell me the Purebloods are planning an uprising and you're now a puppet." Hibiki sighed and forced his way in.

"What?! No way! If the Purebloods were planning a bōdō I would be at HQ right now. You'd know before me anyway." Ayame sighed and tossed Hibiki's scarf and jacket on the radiator.

"Then why is the scent of blood on your breath and why are there bite marks on you?" He asked with a death glare.

"Um, Zero Kiryu and I kind of did it." Ayame blushed and turned away to see one of her bandages was slightly bleeding through.

"Wow, twenty and no V-Card." He chuckled and sat down at the dining room table.

"IT ISN'T FUNNY, HIBIKI!" Ayame yelled and blushed furiously.

"Oh, calm down. I can tell it's troubling you. How about I pour us a few glasses of wine and we just chat?" He asked and got up.

"I really shouldn't, I took a few sleeping pills earlier." She mentioned as she changed the bandage on her arm.

"You'll be fine." He said and set a wine glass in front of her on the table.

"You're hungry. Here." She said and held out her half-wrapped arm.

"I'm an aristocrat and have blood tablets with me. I'm fine." He said and plopped two in his own wine glass.

"Fine, suit yourself." She said and continued to wrap her arm.

Ayame plopped on the couch and stretched out with her head in Hibiki's lap. She was finally laughing and smiling.

Before Hibiki left Ayame gave him some of her blood since she could still sense the thirst in him.

She looked at the clock realizing it was time to get ready for work. Her heart began to pound.


	8. I Guess This Is A Standstill

Chapter 8: I Guess This Is a Standstill

Ayame slowly walked in HQ and silently passed by Zero's desk. He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her into a small old broom closet.

"OUCH! Hey, you weren't exactly gentle! My arm and knee are pretty banged up, not to mention a multitude of small scratch marks I discovered this morning in the shower." She hissed and pulled out of Zero's grip.

"I got your message." He said quietly.

"And?" Ayame asked with a hung head.

Zero put his index finger under her chin and lifted her head to look at him.

"I'm sorry for how I acted. I was just frustrated. I was also thirsty and trying to ignore it. I didn't want to hurt you." He gently kissed her and quickly pulled away.

Ayame quickly stood on her toes and gave Zero a more passionate kiss. It was heated and filled with desire. She and Zero began to French kiss and Ayame could tell she'd remember this one.

Zero began to beg for entrance and Ayame was playing hard to get. Finally, after feeling she had tortured Zero enough, she granted his request. He explored her mouth and she explored his and a fight for dominance began.

Ayame was not a submissive lady and thus made it a fight for Zero. He was beginning to win when Ayame accidentally cut her tongue on one of his sharp, razor-like fangs.

She pulled away quickly and saw Zero's eyes begin to turn red. She looked at him and blushed.

"Sorry." She whispered and wrapped Zero in her arms.

"No, you can't be around me. You'll always be in danger." He whispered and pulled out of her embrace.

"Go ahead. Humans must have necks for other reasons besides a place to put their heads." She stated and felt Zero's fingers gently caress her neck.

She felt Zero whip her around and push her against the wall so she was facing away from him.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered and sunk his fangs into Ayame's neck.

She squeaked in pain and Zero quickly pulled away. He looked so ashamed and yet the thirst of a beast still lurked in his eyes.

"Sorry, go ahead." She whispered and Zero resumed.

After he finished they both exited the closet like nothing had happened when in fact nothing might as well have happened. Ayame knew they were coming to a bitter standstill.


	9. Don't Treat Me like a Child

Chapter 9: Don't Treat Me Like A Child

The next day Zero came into to work to see no sign of Ayame. He sat as his desk working and then everyone looked up as the old doors of HQ squeaked to announce an arrival.

Ayame stood there in her trench coat, sopping wet with her pistol in one hand and katana in another. She was soaked in blood and her hair was just as frazzled as she was. Her knees shook and she quickly fell to them.

"Ayame, what happened?" Tsubasa asked as he gently took Ayame's hands to pry her weapons out of them.

"L-level E. He got me o-o-off guard and cornered me. He's dead, but he really got me." She shook and suddenly collapsed in exhaustion.

Tsubasa gently picked her up and began to carry her to the infirmary. Halfway to the steps Zero stepped in front of Tsubasa and gently took Ayame in his arms.

Zero turned and began to carry Ayame up the stairs, feeling stares pierce him. No one ever knew Zero to be that kind to anyone.

Ayame's eye's fluttered open and she flinched when Zero began to clean one of her wounds.

"Ouch! HEY, DON'T EVEN TOUCH ME!" Ayame yelled and President Cross came in to see what was going on.

"Nothing." Zero insisted and pushed President Cross out of the room.

Zero slammed the door hard and turned back to Ayame. She hissed at him and averted her stare as he began to clean another one of her wounds.

"I told you not to touch me." She hissed and pulled her arm from his grasp.

"I'm cleaning your wounds whether you like it or not. That or I suck you dry, you're choice." Zero answered.

"Don't treat me like a child! Besides, you're a monster!" She almost yelled.

"Coming from the girl who yesterday acted like she would die without me." He sighed and took another gauze pad and bandage.

"Why do you care? Yesterday you didn't want anything to with me after I cut my tongue and now you're treating me like we're an item. What's the deal? I don't do well with mixed signals." Ayame stated and looked as Zero pulled off her boot and wrapped her bloody shin and ankle.

"Well…" Zero never finished his sentence.

"Where do we go from here?" Ayame asked trying to prompt Zero.

"Well, the way I see it we have two options. One is that we can be an item and not let anyone know we had sex, or we can just ignore each other which will make the hunters suspicious." Zero suggested as he placed Ayame's boot back on and laced it.

"I prefer the first one, but on some conditions. We do it because we like one another, not just for the sake of my career. Next, we have to be romantic and I don't mind PDA's. Lastly, I wouldn't mind having you rock my world again." Ayame giggled as Zero stood up.

"Agreed." He nodded and gently kissed her.


End file.
